Verizon Admits to Throttling Netflix, Says It Was Just Testing Optimizations

A story that took place earlier this week just blew right open, with Verizon admitting that it has been tampering with video streaming performance of select applications, with the majority of worry being voiced by users of Netflix.

As it has played out, users of Netflix were testing their data on Verizon LTE, using Netflix’s own speed test app and Ookla’s. From what the data showed, Ookla’s speeds came back normal at over 80Mbps, while Netflix’s data, on the same exact phone at the same exact location, appeared to be capped at 10Mbps. Coincidence? It didn’t seem likely, and with this new statement from Verizon, the carrier has essentially admitted to potentially violating Title II.

Here’s the statement provided to Arstechnica from Verizon.

We’ve been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network. The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected.

While Verizon states that video experience was not affected for customers, that’s not exactly the point. With Title II still in affect, ISPs are required to treat all data equally, regardless of its origin. If Verizon is purposefully throttling (or placing caps on select applications), that’s a no-no.